The Australia–New Zealand soccer rivalry is a

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

rivalry between the Australian men's and

women's A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardl ...

vs. New Zealand men's and

national teams. It is part of a wider friendly trans-Tasman rivalry between geographical neighbours Australia and New Zealand in a range of sports including

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

, rugby league, rugby union and netball. Due to the countries' similar histories, language, and cultural and sporting interests, this wider rivalry is frequently referred to in the press as analogous to a sibling rivalry. The rivalry was more intense when Australia and New Zealand were both members of the

Oceania Football Confederation The Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) is one of the six continental confederations of international association football. The OFC has 13 members, 11 of which are full members and two which are associate members not affiliated with FIFA. It ...

and regularly contested finals of the OFC Nations Cup and for top position in OFC World Cup Qualification campaigns. The rivalry has been less frequent since Australia left the OFC to join the Asian Football Confederation in 2006. In 2022, Football Australia and

New Zealand Football New Zealand Football is the governing body for the sport of association football in New Zealand. It oversees the seven New Zealand Football federations, as well as the New Zealand national football team (nicknamed the "All Whites"), the nationa ...

planned a home and away series, to mark the 100th anniversary of the first meeting between the two nations, which was first played in Dunedin back in 1922.

History

Men's

Both Australia and New Zealand's first official internationals were played against each other during the Australian 1922 tour of New Zealand. They played three matches at Carisbrook in Dunedin, Athletic Park in Wellington, and

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. The results were two 3–1 wins to New Zealand and a 1–1 draw in Wellington. New Zealand would go on to win four of the first six matches with Australia picking up one win in the first game between the teams in Australia. Australia and New Zealand would become regular opponents in

exhibition An exhibition, in the most general sense, is an organized presentation and display of a selection of items. In practice, exhibitions usually occur within a cultural or educational setting such as a museum, art gallery, park, library, exhibition ...

matches for the next 36 years, with the trans-Tasman neighbours playing each other on 21 occasions in seven test series during that time period. This included Australia's largest victory over their rivals with a 10–0 win in 1936 at the Basin Reserve in Wellington. By 2015, New Zealand had only won 13 games out of the 64 times the two teams met.

Women's

The Australian Women's Soccer Association (AWSA) was founded in 1974 while a New Zealand women's national team was formed the year after when they were invited to take part in the 1975 Asian Ladies’ Football Confederation Cup in Hong Kong. (Later recognised as the first

Asian Cup The AFC Asian Cup is the primary association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), determining the continental champion of Asia. It is the second oldest cont ...

). While the two teams would meet at the tournament, with New Zealand beating their Australian rivals 3–2, it wasn't considered the first official meeting between the countries due to the Australian side being a composite of players largely from the St. George-Budapest Club in Sydney. This changed in 2022 when Football Australia recognised the former players as official national team members. What was considered the first official international match between the women's teams until the change in 2022, was on 6 October 1979 when New Zealand travelled to Australia for a three-match series. The game, played at Seymour Shaw Park, ended in a 2–2 draw. This was followed by a second match at the same venue with New Zealand winning 1–0 before the teams moved to Perry Park in Brisbane for the third game with Australia picking up their first win 1–0 ending the series in a draw.

Governing bodies

The New Zealand Football Association would become officially affiliated with

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

in 1948, with the Australian Soccer Football Association given

provisional membership in November 1954 and confirmed in June 1956. Both associations, along with

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

and Papua New Guinea would go on to become the founding members of the

in 1966.

Men's matches

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and New Zealand have played 66 official matches. Australia have the better record overall in the fixture, with 42 wins to New Zealand's 13. There have been 11 draws, only two of them goalless. Australia have scored 158 goals to 70 by New Zealand. The record margin of victory in the fixture was Australia's 10–0 win in 1936, while New Zealand's biggest victory was 4–1 in 1923.

Women's matches

and New Zealand have played 53 official matches. Australia have the better record overall in the fixture, with 35 wins to New Zealand's 10. There have been 8 draws, only two of them goalless. Australia have scored 95 goals to 43 by New Zealand. The record margin of victory in the fixture was Australia's 6–0 win in 2007, while New Zealand's biggest victory is 3–0, done twice in 1984 and 1991.

Overall summary

Top scorers

''Players in bold are still available for selection.''

References

External links

The Ultimate New Zealand Soccer website Men's New Zealand record vs. Australia

{{DEFAULTSORT:Australia-New Zealand Football Rivalry Australia national soccer team Australia national soccer team rivalries New Zealand national football team Australia–New Zealand sports relations International association football rivalries 1922 in association football Sports rivalries in New Zealand